A friend the other day called Columbia County School Board member Mike Sleeper “courageous” because he was the only trustee to vote against a 1-mill tax hike.

I disagree. Not because I disagree with Sleeper, but because these days voting against a tax increase is easy. Voting for a tax increase at the local level is just about the hardest thing an elected official can do.

As I sit at my desk on the very last day of my 30-year career as an educator, I had some time to reflect. I thought of all the people who have led me, from parents, to pastors, to teachers and administrators.

We’re pretty confident that if you turn on the television tonight and tomorrow and tune in ESPN3 or ESPN2, you’ll see a genuine local celebrity: Rachael Cundey.

The rising Lakeside High School freshman this week is competing in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The bee had elimination rounds Tuesday and today, but you’d be making a safe bet that Cundey will be in the finals.

Many of the responses were eye-rolling – I’m not that old – or puzzled. Most, I think, didn’t take me seriously, which isn’t unusual as I spend a great deal of time not being serious.

In this case, though, I am serious. In the next few weeks, depending on the transition, I’ll be retiring from the news business and starting a second career in non-profits - specifically, with Goodwill Industries of Middle Georgia and the CSRA.

On a weekend as nearly 1,600 graduates picked up diplomas from Columbia County public and private schools, there are plenty of reasons to worry that there weren’t as many students graduating as there should have been.

Evidence of those reasons come from the Georgia Department of Education, which this past week released the annual tally of graduation rates for all schools in the state.

Overall, Georgia’s rate increased by two percentage points. That’s progress, but it’s still lower than it should be. At 69.7 percent, that’s a failing grade.

I don’t have any young’uns in Columbia County schools anymore. My last one picked up her diploma at the James Brown Arena and Airhorn Test Facility last year, signaling the final trip across a high school stage for my girls.

So except for the need one day for service from one of you – you know, at a drive-through window, if this diploma is the highest you ever achieve, or perhaps at the doctor’s office, if you’re one of the many smart ones – it would seem that I don’t have a vested interest in your success or failure.